Sometimes It Takes A Year
by Darling Pretty
Summary: It takes him a year, but finally Alex chases Addison to Los Angeles. Finding out where she lives is child's play, but once he gets there, that's when things get difficult. Addison/Alex. At least two chapters.
1. Getting His Act Together

**a/n: So here, have another little story. I have the rest written, but it works so much better as two chapters. Mainly just because I like how this part ends. So enjoy. Call it a celebration of Spring Break.**

**disclaimer: If I owned Grey's, believe me, Alex would NOT still be in Seattle.**

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It's pathetic, really. It's taken him almost a year. The one thing Alex prides himself on is having his act pretty much together, and it takes him a full year of emptiness to realize that he would be a whole lot less empty if he would recognize the fact that the woman he loves currently resides in Los Angeles. So a full year and a month after a certain redhead's departure, he follows her. Man, he really is on top of things.

So now he's in L.A. with no semblance of a plan. He barely has even an idea of why he's down here. Okay, so maybe he doesn't truly have his act together. But that's where she comes in. She's had a strange, paradoxical talent for both forcing him to get everything together, and blowing everything he knows about himself straight to hell. Well, considering it's pretty much impossible for him to have his shit any less together, maybe she'll help him get his ass in gear.

He managed to wrangle the name of her practice out of Callie, and he did it so adroitly, he's not even sure she knows that she provided him with the information. From there, it was simply a matter for asking for a couple days off, flying down to California, and using a phone book to look up Oceanside Wellness Center (the one thing he can't figure out is why she's working in a "Wellness Center" when she could work anywhere in the world, and clearly belongs in some prestigious hospital). When he called, all he had to do was pretend to be an old friend of hers, and he knows her so well that the role is an easy one. He spent the last six months of her stint in Seattle noticing her, and that has provided him with plenty of information. He even goes so far as to act like he was there when she backed into a barbeque (which, through some very convoluted, very Addison-y logic, was not her fault whatsoever), and got the small scar that rests in the middle of her lower back.

The only reason he knows about it is because he noticed it when she dropped a chart and bent down to pick it up. Her scrub top had ridden up, and though the sight of that sliver of skin had been enough to fuel his fantasies for a week afterwards, he managed to pull his act together to ask about it. Since he had been Nice-and-Noticing Alex lately, not Shove-Her-Heart-Through-A-Blender Alex, she had told him.

In the end, the small details he knows pay off, because they convince the receptionist that Addison will be thrilled to see him. She explains that the doctor isn't in right now, but would he like her to give him her address? Alex quickly agrees. When they hang up, the receptionist is left with a distinct sense of reuniting Dr. Montgomery with a former love.

So now he's standing on her porch, trying to gather up the courage to ring her bell.

It takes him a couple minutes, but finally he does. It takes her a minute to open the door. When she does, it takes his breath away. He's simply forgotten how gorgeous she is. Her hair is tousled, like she just came in from the beach that serves as her back yard. She's wearing jean shorts and a white t-shirt that he can see the hint of a red bikini top through. She hold a long, soft-looking sweater closed in the middle of her chest to guard against the slightly chilly late-afternoon air.

For a second, she stands there, looking as if she's seen a ghost. The she seems to register just who is standing at her front door. At which point, she promptly slams the door in his face.

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**So there you have it, part one. I'll post the rest later today, since it's all written. But feel free to review anyways.**

**-Juli-**


	2. Don't Think I Don't Care About You

**a/n: I'm glad you all liked the first bit! Here's the second. Now, for those of you who aren't quite satisfied with the way it ends, I am perfectly willing to write one more chapter. But I don't know want to expend the effort if people don't want to read it.**

**disclaimer: Please see the beginning of the story, and quit reminding me that I live in Denial.**

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Holy crap. This is not happening. It can't be happening. Alex Karev is not standing on her porch and she did not just slam the door in his face. She peeks out the peephole in her front door.

Nope, he's still there, and not disappearing back into the recesses of her overactive imagination. Oh boy. And here come the onslaught of nervous butterflies.

Part of her really just wants to lock the door and wait for him to get frustrated and go away. The other part (the majority) knows that he's too stubborn and she's too curious for that plan to ever work.

She opens the door cautiously. "Sorry," she apologizes. "You scared me. But of all the people I expected to open the door to, you definitely didn't even crack the top ten."

He smiles and she goes weak in the knees. Oh God, not again. Stupid, stupid feelings. "It's okay," he replies. They stare at each other awkwardly for a moment.

"Is there a particular reason you're standing on my front porch, or are you just here for fun?" she asks to break the silence.

He hesitates. "I don't know," he answers. And that's when _all _the past feelings come rushing back. Yes, there's the insanely passionate attraction, but there's also the pain and anger. And she's never been very good at controlling her anger.

"Hmm… were you on your way to the beach? Maybe you thought you'd just stop in for a quickie? Because, hey, I'm an adulterous whore, so I must be easy, and you can screw me just any time you feel like it, right?" she snaps. He opens his mouth to say something, but she talks over him. "Well, I guess you'd better come in then," she says cruelly. "Just one question. Are you going to be as considerate as last time and wait for a couple hours before ripping my heart out, or are you in a hurry, and going to rip it out in the middle of having sex with me? It seems difficult, I know, but I'm sure you'll figure it out. You always do."

She looks ready to slap him, and ready to cry at the same time. He has to get that hurt look off her face. "Addison, stop it!" he yells, and manages to shock her into doing as he asks. "How could you say something like that?" he demands. "I know I deserve it, but…" He hesitates, like he can't decide whether to say what is coming next or not. "You will always mean more to me than easy sex."

She's still in shock at his previous words, and this statement pushes her over the edge. On autopilot, she says, "I guess you should come in." She opens the door wider for him to follow. He hesitates at the threshold, but she motions for him to follow her, so he does. She leads him through the house onto the back porch. It offers the perfect view of the sun painting the sky as it sinks into the ocean. He notices that there is a ring of red right around the sun that is the exact color of her hair. They sit side-by-side on the steps.

"What are you doing here, Alex?" she asks quietly.

"You left," he accuses her. "You left without saying goodbye."

She looks surprised. "You noticed."

"I told you I would, didn't I?"

She sighs. "It was for the best."

"No, it wasn't," he insists. "Because you left and I never got to tell you how I feel about you."

"Alex, don't do this," she pleads. "I'm just getting over you. I'm finally happy here. Please don't take that away from me. Not now. It's been a year, and I've made progress. Don't make me start all over."

"Just let me get this out," he says. "I have to. Then I'll leave and you can just pretend I never happened."

She nods. Then a very bad thought hits her. "Are you going to pretend that I never happened?" she practically whispers.

"Never," he says. She's surprised by the amount of feeling in his voice. "I will never forget you. I've tried, believe me. But I can't get you out of my head."

She tries to say something, but this time, he talks over her. "Look, I know that you've moved on, but I just want you to know that I care about you. I'm sorry I screwed everything up, but don't ever think that I don't care about you, because I do and I'm not going to stop."

Tears glisten in her eyes, but otherwise she's completely frozen. She stares out at the ocean as he gets up to leave. "I don't regret you," he says. "I regret that I treated you like I did, but I will never regret you."

He's almost to the front door when she calls out, "Alex, wait!" He turns around and suddenly her lips are pressed against his. He wraps his arms around her, pulling her as close as humanly possible. "I care about you too," she admits when they come up for air.

"I'm leaving tomorrow," he informs her. She removes one arm from around his neck in order to wave her hand to sweep away the fact.

"We'll deal with it tomorrow." Then she kisses him again and leads him to her bedroom, and he is perfectly content to deal with it tomorrow.

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**Now, I could leave it here, or I could write more. What say you?**

**-Juli-**


End file.
